USA > New Mexico > Historical sketches of New Mexico : from the earliest records to the American occupation > Part 23
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This Code, much of which has remained as the law of the Territory for nearly forty years, contained a Bill of Rights quite similar to those in many of the States, proclaiming the broadest principles of liberty, and was made up largely from Missouri statutes and existing Mexican laws. It was to be promulgated in both Span- ish and English, and the labor of translation was con- fided to Captain Waldo, whose varied accomplishments and scholarship were frequently of much value in sim- iiar matters. Considerable difficulty was experienced
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in printing the work, the only press in the Territory be- ing a small one which had been used by the former government in printing proclamations, public notices, manifestos, etc. The type was worn, and ink and other materials difficult to obtain ; but finally the work was accomplished. The type being Spanish, and conse- quently containing no "W,"' we are told that whenever that letter occurred in the book, the compositors had to substitute two " V's." This "Kearney Code " was pro- mulgated on September 22d, and took effect immediately.
General Kearney promptly established a provisional government by the appointment of a Governor, Judges, etc. The following was the official notice which was circulated throughout the Territory, in both English and Spanish,-
NOTICE.
"Being duly authorized by the President of the United States of America, I hereby make the following appoint- ments for the government of New Mexico, a Territory of the United States. The officers thus appointed will be obeyed and respected accordingly : Charles Bent to be Governor ; Donaciano Vigil to be Secretary of the Terri- tory ; Richard Dallam to be Marshal; Francis P. Blair to be U. S. District Attorney ; Charles Blumner to be Treasurer ; Eugene Leitensdorfer to be Auditor of Pub- lic Accounts; Joab Houghton, Antonio José Otero, Charles Beaubien, to be Judges of the Superior Court.
"Given at Santa Fé, the Capital of the Territory of New Mexico, this 22d day of September, 1846, and in the seventy-first year of the Independence of the United States.
S. W. KEARNEY, Brigadier General, U. S. A."
Charles Bent was an old resident of the Territory, and with his brother, the owner of Bents' Fort. He was an able and popular man, and married to a native- born New Mexican lady of Taos.
Donaciano Vigil was a native New Mexican, born September 6, 1802, who had held a number of public positions, both civil and military, and enjoyed the con-
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fidence and respect of the whole people. He had been active in expeditions against the Navajoes in 1823, 1833, 1836, and 1838 ; for over four years military secretary of the Governor ; twice a member of the Departmental Assembly, etc .; and so had an official experience of great value.
Francis P. Blair, Jr., was the well-known member of the Blair family who afterwards represented the St. Louis District in the United States Congress, being the first Republican representative ever elected in a slave State
Richard Dallam was an American, residing at the Placers and engaged in mining operations there.
Eugene Leitensdorfer was a Santa Fé merchant, who had married the daughter, Soledad, of Governor Santiago Abreu.
Joab Houghton was a well-known lawyer, who after- wards held the office of Associate Justice, under the regular Territorial government, for a number of years, from 1865 to 1869.
Antonio José Otero was the representative of one of the most important Spanish families in New Mexico, a man of high character and reputation, and influential connections.
Charles Beaubien had been a resident of Taos since about 1827, and had married a sister of Don Pedro Valdez, in 1828. He was widely known and respected.
On the 26th of September the column for California, under command of General Kearney, set off on the long journey to conquer an empire on the Pacific, choosing as the least of two unknown evils the southern route along the Gila, and really making what General Cooke aptly calls, "a leap in the dark of a thousand miles of wild plain and mountain." General Kearney, on leaving the Territory, which he had practically annexed, and to which he had given a new government and code of laws, turned over the command to Colonel Doniphan.
Twodays afterward,on September 28,General Sterling
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Price arrived at Santa Fé, in a feeble state of health, and accompanied only by his staff. The troops under his command, consisting of 1,200 mounted volunteers from Missouri, and a Mormon battalion of 500 infantry organ- ized at Council Bluffs, reached the city a few days later, having completed the march across the plains in fifty- three days. The capital was now literally alive with artillery, baggage-wagons, commissary teams, beef- cattle, and a promiscuous throng of American soldiers, traders, visitors, straglers, trappers, amateurs, moun- taineers, Mexicans, Pueblo Indians, women and chil- dren, numbering perhaps not less than 14,000 souls. The aggregate effective force of the American army in New Mexico at this time was about 3,500 men.
Colonel Doniphan had been ordered to march to Chi- huahua, where it was supposed General Wool had arrived from San Antonio, and great preparations were made for the campaign; but just as he was about starting, the attacks made by bands of Navajoes on Polvedero and other towns made necessary some efficient action against that tribe, and so the Colonel was directed, by a special order sent by General Kearney from La Joya while en route for California, to make a campaign against them, before pro- ceeding on his more adventurous southern trip. Thus a part of the army which had started out in hostility to Mexicans found its first active duty in the protection of the Mexican people themselves against their inveterate enemies.
With characteristic promptitude Doniphan per- formed the task. Leaving Colonel Price at Santa Fé, he set out on October 26th, dividing his forces into two parts. With one he proceeded to Albuquerque, and thence up the Rio Puerco to the head-waters of its western branch; while Major Gilpin, in command of 200 men, marched up the valley of the Chama from Abiquiu, crossed the "Great Continental Divide," and proceeded down the San Juan to the valley of the Little
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Colorado. Nothing more romantic or daring is recorded in the pages of history than Captain Reid's expedition, with an escort of only thirty men, to the center of the Indian population ; and Gilpin's march across the Cor- dilleras. The whole country of the Navajoes was visited, and the tribe brought together at Ojo del Oso, where a treaty was successfully concluded, and the regiment re- turned to the Rio Grande, reaching Socorro on Decem- ber 12th, having accomplished its whole work most effi- ciently in little more than six weeks.
The novel position which the American army thus assumed, as the champions and protectors of the people who had so lately been their enemies, is well illustrated by a part of the proceedings at the "long talk," which preceded the making of this treaty with the Navajoes. After the first statement by Colonel Doniphan, a young Navajo Chief,Sarcilla Largo,a very bright man, responded that he was gratified to learn the views of the Ameri- cans. "He admired their spirit and enterprise, but detested the Mexicans." The next day Colonel Doniphan explained to the council " that the United States had taken military possession of New Mexico; that her laws were now extended over that Territory; that the New Mexicans would be protected against violence and in- vasion ; and that their rights would be amply preserved to them: that the United States was also anxious to enter into a treaty of peace and lasting friendship with her red children, the Navajoes; that the same protection would be given them against encroachments, and the usurpation of their rights, as had been guaranteed to the New Mexicans; that the United States claimed all the country by the right of conquest, and both they and the New Mexicans were now equally become her child- ren." Then the same young Chief, with great acuteness boldly replied : " Americans! you have a strange cause of war against the Navajoes. We have waged war against the New Mexicans for many years. We have
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plundered their villages and killed many of their people, and made many prisoners. We had just cause for all this. You have lately commenced a war against the same people. You are powerful. You have great guns and many brave soldiers. You have therefore con- quered them, the very thing we have been attempting to do for so many years. You now turn upon us for attempting to do what you have done yourselves. We cannot see why you have cause to quarrel with us for fighting the New Mexicans on the west, while you do the same thing on the east. Look how matters stand. This is our war. We have more right to complain of you for interfering in our war than you have to quarrel with us for continuing a war we had begun long before you got here. If you will act justly, you will allow us to settle our own differences."
Colonel Doniphan then explained that the New Mexicans had surrendered ; that they desired no more fighting; that it was a custom with the Americans, when a people gave up, to treat them as friends thence- forward; that we now had full possession of New Mex- ico and had attached it to our Government; that the whole country and every thing in it had become ours by conquest ; and that when they now stole property from the New Mexicans they were stealing from us, and when they killed them they were killing our peo- ple, for they had now become ours ; that this could not be suffered any longer. Finally after some considera- tion the Chief responded : " If New Mexico be really in your possession, and if it be the intention of your Gov- ernment to hold it, we will cease our depredations, and refrain from future wars upon that people ; for we have no cause of quarrel with you, and do not desire to have any war with so powerful a nation. Let there be peace between us." This was the end of the speaking, and so the treaty was signed.
This expedition to the westward, with all its dan-
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gers and hardships, was a fitting prelude to that extraor- dinary march and conquest which have rendered the name of Doniphan immortal, and which have been not inappropriately compared by as high authority as William Cullen Bryant to Xenophon's celebrated " Re- treat of the Ten Thousand."
On October 12th the Mormon battalion, which was to be formed at Council Bluffs of refugees from Nauvoo, arrived at Santa Fé ; and its commander having died, it was put in charge of Lieutenant Colonel Cooke, and a week later started south and west to follow the route taken by General Kearney to California.
Doniphan's march to Chihuahua commenced on De- cember 14th, leaving Colonel Price, of the Second Missouri Mounted Volunteers, in command of the few remaining troops in New Mexico.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE REVOLT OF 1847.
SCARCELY had a day passed after the departure of General Doniphan, before information came that preparations were being made for a general revolt against the American authority. While the people generally had apparently submitted to the new order of things with a good grace, yet there was naturally much dis- content beneath the quiet external appearance, espe- cially among the wealthy and those who had been local leaders, and who thought that the attainment of their ambition or the pursuit of their pleasures might be in- terfered with by the new regime. Besides, we are to re- member in judging of the acts of those days, that the people were Mexicans, and their territory a part of the Republic of Mexico, which had been invaded by an American army and was being held by force of arms; and that so long as the war continued it was simply an act of patriotism, from their point of view, to drive from their soil these invaders of their country, or to destroy them from the face of the earth. What afterwards, when they had accepted American citizenship, would have been treason and rebellion, at that time, while war was raging between the two countries, was for them, as Mexican citizens held under foreign military control, a natural manifestation of love of country. This view of the matter was officially taken by the President of the United States himself, who pardoned several of those engaged in the revolt, after they had been convicted of treason and sentenced to be hung, on the ground that as actual war was existing between the two governments, a Mexican citizen could not commit treason against the
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United States; and this should be carefully borne in mind, in reading and judging of the events connected with the American occupation and the revolt of 1847 ; and it is also to be noted that those who were most patriotic Mexicans, while they were Mexicans, have been among the most valuable and loyal American citi- zens in civil affairs, in Indian wars, and the war of the Rebellion, since the treaty of peace transferred their allegiance.
The leaders in the attempt to recapture the country from the Americans were Don Diego Archuleta, of Los Luceros, who had been a delegate to the Mexican Con- gress from New Mexico, and Don Tomas Ortiz, of Santa Fé, who had been second in command to Armijo; both men of extensive connections and large influence. They were supported in the enterprise by many leading citi- zens of the Territory, including-according to the histo- ries of Hughes and W. W. H. Davis, and as was generally believed at the time-Tomas C. de Baca, of Peña Blanca, Manuel Chavez, Miguel E. Pino, Nicolas Pino, and Pablo Dominguez ; and Hughes also mentions Santiago Armijo, Domingo Baca, and Juan Lopez. It subse- quently appeared, however, that several of these parties were not concerned in this attempt. Among those specially active in the affair were some of the Mexican priesthood, the most prominent being Padre José Manuel Gallegos and Padre Juan Felipe Ortiz. These two took an important part in arranging the preliminaries of the revolt. Padre Ortiz went to the north as far as La Joya at the time of the festival of Nuestra Señora de Guada- lupe (December 12th) to perform the religious services appropriate to the occasion, and from there visited the Rio Arriba and Taos regions to excite the people to action. Padre Gallegos simultaneously came up from Albuquerque to perfect arrangements with the leaders around Santa Fé. The first general meeting was held on December 12th, and it was then decided that the
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revolution should take place one week from that date- a general rising being made all over the country. The programme was to kill or drive out of the Territory all Americans, and also all Mexicans who had taken office under the American Government since the occupation.
Everything was arranged with the utmost secrecy, and organized so that each leader should have his ap- pointed part in the work to perform. It was agreed that on the night of the appointed day (December 19th) those engaged in the conspiracy in Santa Fé were to gather in the parochial church and remain concealed. Meanwhile, friends from the surrounding country, under the lead of Don Diego Archuleta, who was to be the General-in-Chief, were to be brought into the city and distributed in various houses where they would be un- observed. At midnight the church bell was to sound, and then the men within the church were to sally forth, and all were to rendezvous immediately in the plaza, seize the cannon there and aim them so as to command the leading points, while detachments under special orders were to attack the Palace and the quarters of the American Commandant (Colonel Price), and make them prisoners. The people throughout the whole north of the Territory had been secretly notified, and were only awaiting news of the rising at Santa Fé to join in the revolt and make it a sure success. In fact, everything seemed favorable, and but for a postponement, agreed to at a final preparatory meeting, the object might have been accomplished. Some timid spirits then argued that more time was needed for preparation, and so the date of the rising was changed to Christmas eve, which it was thought was the most propitious occasion, as dis- cipline would then be relaxed, the soldiers would be engaged in festivities at various bailes and saloons in the town, and so-dispersed and unarmed-could be easily killed or captured.
The postponement, however, was fatal to action at
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that time, for in the interim information of the con- spiracy reached the American authorities, as is said by some, through a mulatto woman, who was the wife of one of those engaged in the project and who had friends among the Americans whom she wished to serve; and according to another account, from Agustin Duran. Very possibly the news came from more than one source, as is apt to be the case with secrets too long kept. At all events, the Governor took vigorous measures to re- press the outbreak, and promptly arrested and impris- oned a number of the supposed leaders; among whom were Manuel Chavez and the Pino brothers. An inves- tigation ensued, from which it appeared that these three were not concerned in this conspiracy at all, the sus- picions against them having been excited by the prom- inent part they took in endeavoring to raise a volun- teer army to meet the Americans in the field before the coming of General Kearney, as narrated in Chapter XVI. They were acquitted and released, and soon after showed their loyalty to the new order of things by en- listing (Manuel Chavez and Nicolas Pino, Miguel E. Pino being sick) in the volunteer company under Col- onel St. Vrain, which marched to put down the Taos insurrection. Ortiz and Archuleta, who were to have been, respectively, Governor and Commanding General urder the revolutionary government, escaped to the south, notwithstanding the efforts of Lieutenant Walker to make an arrest, and succeeded in reaching the City of Mexico, where they remained until the end of the war.
This opportune discovery prevented the projected revolt for the time, but did not allay the determination of the people to free themselves from foreign control as soon as a fitting opportunity presented itself. On the contrary, preparations for a future rising were secretly undertaken on a scale more extended than before. This time certain of the Pueblo Indians, and especially those
*
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of Taos, were enlisted in the cause, and added much to the strength and prospects of the enterprise. The time for the revolt was well chosen, as was the place of the first outbreak.
Governor Bent, supposing all danger past, left the capital on January 14th to visit his home and family at Taos, and arrived there after a two days' trip. He was accompanied by five persons, including the sheriff, pre- fect of the county, and the circuit attorney. On the night of the 19th a large body of men, partly Mexicans and partly Pueblo Indians, attacked his residence, and succeeded that night not only in killing the Governor, but also the sheriff of the county, Stephen Lee; J. W. Leal, the circuit attorney ; Cornelio Vigil, the prefect ; Narciso Beaubien, a son of Judge Beaubien; and Pablo Jaramillo. The prefect represented the class of natives of the Territory who had accepted office under the United States authorities, and his death showed a determina- tion to destroy all those who had taken similar positions. Jaramillo was a brother-in-law of Governor Bent, and no doubt was killed for that reason.
The animosity of the people had evidently been aroused to the highest pitch against all connected with the invaders, as we told that the most cruel feautures were connected with the murders of some of these offi- cials, as well as with others that took place almost si- multaneously in the vicinity ; S. Turley, the owner of the distillery, and six other Americans at work at the Arroyo Hondo, twelve miles above Taos, and two others still farther north on the Rio Colorado, being among the vic- tims, the former after a resistance of two days.
At Mora, at the same time, an attack was made on a party of Americans who had just arrived there from Las Vegas, and all of them were killed. The principal one in this party was Mr. L. Waldo, a brother of Car- tain Waldo of the Missouri volunteers, and father cf Henry L. Waldo, afterward Chief Justice of Ne.7
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Mexico. He had been merchandising for some years in the Territory, was well known and much respected. He had a wagon in which he travelled, and on this occasion the other seven Americans who fell victims had accompanied him in the wagon from Las Vegas. The bodies of all those thus killed at Mora, with the exception of one that could not be found, were subsequently brought into Las Vegas and interred there.
The startling news of the a ssassination of the Gov- ernor was swiftly carried to Santa Fé, and reached Col- onel Price the next day. Simultaneously, letters were discovered calling on the people of the Rio Abajo to secure Albuquerque and march northward to aid the other insurgents; and news speedily followed that a united Mexican and Pueblo force of large magnitude was marching down the Rio Grande valley towards the capital, flushed with the success of the revolt at Taos. Very few troops were in Santa Fé, ; in fact, the number remaining in the whole Territory was very small, and these were scattered at Albuquerque, Las Vegas, and other distant points. At the first named town were Major Edmondson and Captain Burgwin; the former in command of the town, and the latter with a com- pany of the First Dragoons.
Colonel Price lost no time in taking such measures as his limited resources permitted. Edmondson was di- rected to come immediately to Santa Fe to take com- mand of the capital; and Burgwin to follow Price as fast as possible towards the scene of hostilities. The Colonel himself collected the few troops at Santa Fé, which were all on foot, but fortunately included the little battalion which under Captain Angney had made such extraordinary marches on the journey across the plains as to almost outwalk the cavalry. With these was a volunteer company formed of nearly all of the American inhabitants of the city, under command of Colonel St. Vrain, who happened to be in Santa Fé, to-
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gether with Judge Beaubien, at the time of the rising at Taos. With this little force, amounting in all to 310 men, Colonel Price started to march towards Taos, or at all events to meet the army which was coming towards the capital from the north and which grew as it marched by constant accessions from the surrounding country. The city of Santa Fé was left in charge of a garrison under Lieutenant-Colonel Willock. While the force was small and the volunteers without experience in regular warfare, yet all were nerved almost to desperation by the belief, since the Taos murders, that the only al- ternative was victory or annihilation.
The expedition set out on January 23d, and the next day the Mexican army, under command of General Montoya as Commander-in-Chief, aided by Generals Tafoya and Chavez, was found occupying the heights commanding the road near La Cañada (Santa Cruz), with detachments in some strong adobe houses near the river banks. The advance had been seen shortly before at the rocky pass, on the road from Pojuaque ; and near there and before reaching the river, the San Juan Pu- eblo Indians, .who had joined the revolutionists reluctant- ly and under a kind of compulsion, surrendered and were disarmed by removing the locks from their guns. On arriving at the Cañada, Price ordered his howitzers to the front and opened fire; and after a sharp cannonade, directed an assault on the nearest houses by Angney's battalion. Meanwhile an attempt by a Mexican detach- ment to cut off the American baggage-wagons which had not yet come up was frustrated by the activity of St. Vrain's volunteers. A charge all along the line was then ordered and handsomely executed; the houses, which being of adobe, had been practically so many ready-made forts, were successively carried, and St. Vrain started in advance to gain the Mexican rear. Seeing this manœuver, and fearing its effects, the Mexi- cans retreated, leaving thirty-six dead on the field.
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Among those killed was General Tafoya, who bravely remained on the field after the remainder had abandoned it, and was shot.
Colonel Price pressed on up the river as fast as pos- sible, passing San Juan, and at Los Luceros, on the 28th, . his little army was rejoiced at the arrival of re-inforce- ments, consisting of a mounted company of cavalry, Captain Burgwin's company, which had been pushed up by forced marches on foot from Albuquerque, and a six-pounder brought by Lieutenant Wilson. Thus en- larged, the American force consisted of 480 men, and continued its advance up the valley to La Joya, which was as far as the river road at that time extended. Meanwhile the Mexicans had established themselves in a narrow pass near Embudo, where the forest was dense, and the road impracticable for wagons or cannon, the troops occupying the sides of the mountain on both sides of the cañon. Burgwin was sent with three com- panies to dislodge them and open a passage-no easy task. But St. Vrain's company took the west slope, and another the right, while Burgwin- himself marched through the gorge between. The sharp-shooting of these troops did such terrible execution that the pass was soon cleared, though not without the display of great heroism, and some loss; and the Americans entered Embudo without further opposition. The dif- ficulties of this campaign were greatly increased by the severity of the weather, the mountains being thickly covered with snow, and the cold so intense that a num- ber of men were frost-bitten and disabled. The next day Burgwin reached Las Trampas, where Price arrived with the remainder of the American army on the last day of January, and all together they marched into Chamisal.
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